


After the Storm

by CoverFireGoddess880 (orphan_account)



Series: Older Gladnoct Trapped in Lucis [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, Forbidden Love, Gladio is scarred all over and has a thicker beard... think lumberjack! ;), Heavy Angst, Implied Sexual Content, Just a Touch of Humor, M/M, New Kink: Naked with Boots, Noctis Never Shaves in this Series, This Glitch Has Overtaken My Life... :0), Thunderstorms, Weather Loves Drama, non-descriptive nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 21:52:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15495444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/CoverFireGoddess880
Summary: During a storm, Noctis and Gladio find  blissful but brief solace in each other's arms.





	After the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone :) Been awhile since I've written or updated anything, but here's some more sweet Gladnoct!

Silence fills the shack but for a tiny pitter patter of raindrops dripping off the edge of the roof. It’s amazing how still the world is after a thunderstorm, and how all of nature seems to bask in peace of renewal.

 Once again hearing the sweet songs of birds filtering in from the cracks in the doorframe, Noctis decides it’s time to have a peek outside. He walks to the door in the nude - save for his boots out of urgency, but it’s okay, he knows they’re alone. It’s his peace of mind, really.

 He pushes open the door, squinting at how bright the sky has become once more in the west. The storm has finally moved east, bringing the roar of thunder and the brilliance of lightning on its wings. Birds fly south overhead, the crisp fresh air allowing Noctis to breathe freely like a child at birth. The sun is setting, casting a wondrous, soft orange glow upon the hills of Cleigne.

 It’s a gorgeous sight, and from the strong arms wrapping around his smaller form, he’s not the only one enjoying the evening blessing.

 “Calm  _ after _ the storm, huh?”

 “Yeah,” Noctis muses, massaging along Gladio’s arms. He’s so strong, but there’s the slightest tremble to his flesh. “Just as beautiful as before…”

 Gladio spreads his legs out to steady his stance, warm, bare chest pressed into Noctis’s back. “You know he’s probably furious with us right now for me not telling him where I was taking you?”

 Noctis nods, gaze downcast. Songbirds sing their thanksgiving for the rain in the distance. “But he doesn’t have to know what happened between us, Gladio. It’s what we both wanted, isn’t it?”

 “It is,” Gladio says contemplatively, resting his chin on his lover’s shoulder. “And he’s got no right to know either… Good or bad, this is  _ our  _ choice - and  _ our _ life. How we live it is up to us.”

 Noctis turns his gaze halfway, eyes on the scar that has left Gladio’s whole right cheek forever sliced. “I appreciate his concern, as I’m sure you do.”

 “Of course.”

 “But you’re right, love,” Noctis says, wondering if the warmth pushing at his bottom belongs to Gladio. “And in the end, that’s all that matters.”

 Gladio makes a gruff sound in agreement. “If there’s one thing I know about Iggy, it’s that he wants to see us happy - you, especially, no matter how far we push the boundaries.”

 “And by boundaries you mean making love in a shack that’s miles away from town? Among the wild beasts and dangerous daemons? Not knowing if we’ll survive the night, or return to them before dawn?”

 Gladio turns him around to face him, nuzzling his nose before they kiss, slow and long. When they part, Noctis’s blue eyes are sparkling, and Gladio swears he can see the beginnings of the starry sky in them. “...and more besides,” he whispers assuredly, taking Noctis’s hand as they step back into the shack to gather their discarded clothes.

 Noctis tries to kneel close to the floor to tie his boots, but the aching in his hips prevents him from even bending down as he hisses and presses up against the wall. “Shit - Gladio, what did you do to me?”

 Gladio’s smirk answers him in the fading light of the evening, the shadows in this dusty old barn making his features seem much more dark and sharp than they usually are. “I can show you again if you’d like?”

 Noctis glares at him, his nakedness starting to bother him, his face flushed. “D-don’t be ridiculous. I just need some help…”

 Gladio can’t stand to watch his lover struggle like a toddler with a new, unopened toy any longer. Shaking his head, he chuckles quietly to himself and kneels before Noctis, lovingly prying his hands from the boot straps. “Allow me, baby…”

 Noctis’s eyes twinkle again, leaving Gladio breathless. “Thanks, love.”

 The sound of Gladio twisting and pulling on the loose fabric causes goosebumps to rise on Noctis’s flesh, the heat in his belly returning as the atmosphere all too suddenly feels so arousing. He fidgets slightly as he watches Gladio tantalisingly string his boots, licking his dry lips to try to maintain some form of dignity.

 Every couple seconds, Gladio’s eyes flicker up to capture Noctis’s expressions, a smile just ghosting his lips when he witnesses a very jittery Noctis biting his lower lip through a grimace.

 But his face isn’t the only part of him responding to the work of Gladio’s careful hands…

 “So, I was thinking,” Gladio begins, hand gliding up Noctis’s calf before returning to the task at hand. Noctis lets out a small gasp at the motion, covering his mouth afterward to keep Gladio’s ego at bay. “Once we’re all dressed, whaddya wanna do?”

 Noctis’s breath starts to hitch. “Ride b-back… to Old Lestallum? Before our… chocobo tickets expire…?”

 Before long, his boots are all done up. Gladio skids closer and puts his hands on Noctis’s legs, leaning up to press a kiss on the underneath side of his thigh. “ _ Babe~ _ ...” Dark copper eyes dart to Noctis’s face. “Sure you wanna leave already?”

 Noctis is panting, body wanning under Gladio's touch as he lets out a whine of pleasure. “No… I don’t wanna go yet…” He sinks to the floor then and grabs Gladio’s face to bring him in for a kiss.

 The older man gently guides the rest of his lover’s body to the dusty floor, softly groaning as he gives himself a couple slow strokes for good measure - just in case Noctis was ready to go again. He breaks from Noctis’s mouth and lavishes his neck with multiple nips and licks. Noctis’s shaky limbs coil themselves around Gladio’s strong, battle-scarred form, all desire to head back for the motel gone from the king’s mind.

 Though he’s not quite ready for sex again, he surely won’t reject foreplay, even if it doesn’t lead to anything more. He opens his eyes, disappointed to only see the top of Gladio’s hair. “Gladio?”

 Gladio breathes heavily on Noctis’s throat, hands squeezing Noctis’s sides as if to brace himself for more. “Yeah…?”

 “Can we just… stay here? Just… lie here? Until morning?” He swallows thickly, almost embarrassed by his question.

 “Don’t got any other plans,” Gladio says and lays down beside his lover. “You wanna?”

 Noctis turns to him and smiles, shifting on his side closer to his shield. “I do.”

 

 ---

 Soft, sweet breaths flow across Gladio’s cheek, breaking him away from his daydream. These moments are what he enjoys most, when Noctis sleeps right at his side with an arm tucked beside his gentle face and a leg thrown over Gladio's thigh. A loving grin graces the dim light on Gladio's face as Noctis’s mouth falls open to an ‘o’, and he snuggles up underneath his chin.

 “Noct,” Gladio murmurs against his lips, giving them a slight kiss. He hates to wake him, but he longs to hear his voice. “Baby, wake up.”

 “Mmm…” Noctis stretches like a cat from a short nap, yawning before throwing his arms around Gladio. He nuzzles his neck, breathing in the musky scent of his lover. “Not time to leave yet I hope?”

 “Not yet, hun,” Gladio replies, kissing the top of his head. His hair is so soft. “But, we’re gettin’ there.”

 The heavy sigh Gladio lets out eases the dread in Noctis’s heart of having to leave this wonderful, secret place. “Tell me something.”

 “Shoot,” Gladio snorts, pulling his lover in for an embrace.

 Noctis leans back enough to look deeply into Gladio’s eyes, stroking his lover’s beard - it has gotten thicker through the years, but Noctis still loves to card his fingers through that hard scruff. “If I weren’t the king, and you weren’t my shield… Would you still love me as much as you do now?”

 Gladio takes both of Noctis’s hands and holds them together against his breast, pressing little kisses to each finger. Noctis blushes, and Gladio kisses those reddened cheeks as well. “If there was nothing holding us back, nothing keeping us from being what we want to be… I’d take you in my arms and run - as far away as I could, to the ends of the earth…”

 Noctis doesn’t miss the sudden humility in Gladio’s tone nor the sadness that washes over his honeyed gaze. They’ve been through so much hell together that even in the darkness, Noctis can feel all the tight, emotional repression and hidden pain in Gladio’s soul just from being close to him.

 There’s so much more depth to this big man than most people give him respect for, and Noctis considers himself blessed to have the privilege to lie right in the heart of this gentle giant.

 Noctis plays with Gladio’s fingers a little, tapping them tenderly as he ponders what to say. “A chance to become the strongest man in the world, ruling side by side with the most powerful king in existence, two lovers forever bound by the laws of monarchy and duty…”

 Gladio meets Noctis’s beautiful blue eyes, curious about the meaning of the words that fall from those soft lips.

 Noctis cups his cheek, their hands clasped together between their breasts not even a touch apart. “Would it be that you’d rather trade that life -  _ this _ life, for another?”

 The stall in Gladio’s breaths speaks for the tears that begin to fill his eyes. “Yes,” he chokes out, gulping hard. “To be granted the flight of a thousand wild stallions just to keep the man I love…  _ Dammit _ , Noct…”

 “I love you,” Noctis says, ever watchful of where Gladio’s gaze leads him.

 Gladio wraps his arms around his lover’s lean waist, burying his face in his breast. The hard, wet scuff of Gladio’s beard against his fragile flesh makes Noctis gasp at the rough sensation. “Why are you so untouchable, Noctis…? Why, out of so many damn people in this world… Why did it have to be you?”

 “I don’t have any answers, Gladio,” Noctis tells him despite the other having already understood since they were children. “I only wish the love we have now could’ve spanned eons before we were born…”

 Thunder rumbles in the distance as the day draws to a close. There’s another storm approaching, and in both of their hearts, they know they must leave very soon.

 Gladio extends an arm behind himself and summons a fleece blanket from the Armiger, spreading it across the both of them and tugging Noctis close underneath. Warmth flourishes. “Let’s make it last, Noct,” he says, resting their foreheads together. “The night is long.”

 Noctis gently presses his lips to Gladio’s in one last kiss before the comforting heat of his lover envelops him and he feels sleepy once more, nuzzled snuggly in the arms of his shield. “Wake me when it’s over, love…”

 Thunder growls closer than before, causing the earth to tremble below them. Then the heavens open and rain pours forth, lightning dancing dangerously against the dark backdrop of the night sky.

 Gladio is no fool - he knows why Noctis didn’t speak the very words he was expecting.

 In this life, he’s not a simple man.

**Author's Note:**

> My new favorite version of Older!Noctis: naked with boots XD


End file.
